Top insertable, releasable and removable contact



Nov. 14, 1967 E. KIRBY 3,352,990

- TOP INSERTABLE, RELEASABLE AND REMOVABLE CONTACT Filed ept, 26, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Q liaveniozx' .Edzard KirZwy. 7 '%29 United States Patent Ofiice 3,352,990 TOP INSERTABLE, RELEASABLE AND REMOVABLE CONTACT Edward Kirby, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to United- Carr Incorporated, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 26, 1966, Ser. No. 582,113 1 Claim. (Cl. 200-166) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A connector assembly comprising an insulating housing having a cavity and a metal contact seated in the cavity. The parts being so constructed that the contact is moved into assembly with the housing through its front face. Release of the contact from assembly with the housing is accomplished by a tool which is inserted into the housing through the front face.

This invention relates generally to removable contacts and more specifically to contacts released and removed from the top.

Basically, most contacts that are removable use a release tool that is inserted from the side opposite to that of contact insertion. When a complete connector is mounted on a printed circuit mother board or ground plane board, the bottom side of the connector is against the board and it is not possible to release or remove a contact from the bottom.

It is desirable to be able to remove and replace a single contact which has become damaged without removing the complete connector from the board. In many instances the connectors may have numerous contacts, for example, two or three hundred, but even if only a few contacts are involved the advantages of a single contact replacement is obvious. To remove a mounted connector all of the connections must be disconnected and then reconnected to a new or repaired connector. In the case of a printed circuit board which is likely to be a multi-layer board, all of the solder joints must be melted at one time to allow the connector to be removed. This usually requires special tooling and the solder must be removed from the holes to allow the connector to be replaced and then each terminal resoldered. This large number of reconnections and resolderings is time consuming and also may introduce wiring errors. Because of the reheating cycles on the circuit board, damage may occur to the circuit board which laces it beyond repair.

The contact for the present invention is top inserted, and top released for removal. An individual contact can, therefore, be removed from a connector which is mounted and connected while all other contacts in the connector can remain fixed in place.

An object of the present invention is to provide a contact which may be top removed when the connector is mounted and connected to a printed circuit mother board or ground plane board.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a contact which is top insertable, releasable and removable from a connector.

Other objects of the invention will, in part, be obvious and will, in part, appear hereinafter.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of the contact;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the contact shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the contact shown in FIG. 1, engaged in its cavity in the connector body;

FIG. 4 is a section showing the contact engaged in its 3,352,990 Patented Nov. 14, 1967 cavity and showing a tool just prior its engagement with the locking spur;

FIG. 5 is a front elevation of a variation of the contact shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the contact shown in FIG. 5, engaged in its cavity in the connector body;

FIG. 7 is a section showing the contact variation of FIG. 5 engaged in a cavity;

FIG. 8 is a section showing a cavity and the contact of FIG. 7 engaged with a variation of the tool shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a section through a cavity in the connector body showing the relationship of the arcuate hole and the secondary slot; and

FIG. 10 is an end view of FIG. 9.

In the drawings there is shown a contact having a base portion 10 generally rectangular in configuration and having a free terminal end or closed entry hood 11 bent at right angle to the remaining part of the base portion 10. A rectangular aperture 12 is formed in the closed entry hood 11. An arm 14 is formed on each side edge of the base portion 10 proximate the terminal end or closed entry hood 11. Each of the arms 14 is spaced from the base portion 10 for a major portion of its length and is bent toward the other as is shown in FIGURE 1.

A stabilizing wing 16 is formed at each side edge of the base portion 10 with a raised portion spaced from the base portion 10. A locking spur 18 extends from the base portion 10 and is bent outwardly therefrom away from the arms 14 and the stabilizing wings 16.

The connector body or housing 20 contains a series of cavities 22 having a rectangular opening 24 and having an arcuate hole 26 opening into the rectangular opening 24. The cavities 22 extend from the top to the bottom of the housing 20. The arcuate hole 26 at a predetermined plane opens into a secondary slot 28 which has a width greater than the width of the arcuate hole 26 and the junction of the secondary slot 28 and the arcuate hole 26 forms a pair of locking shoulders 30.

In close proximity to the rectangular opening 24 an internal shoulder 32 is provided on three sides with the portion of the shoulder 32 opposite the arcuate hole 26 chamfered to assist in easy passage of the contact as will be more fully set forth hereinafter.

To engage the contact with the housing 20, the tail of the contact is passed into the cavity 22 with the locking spur 18 facing toward the arcuate hole 26. Since the locking spur 18 is wider than the arcuate hole 26, it rides along the sides of the cavity 22 adjacent the arcuate hole 26 and is flexed inwardly. When the locking spur 18 reaches slightly beyond the locking shoulders 30 it flexes out wardly and the end of the locking spur 18 engages against the shoulders 30. At the same time the terminal end or closed entry hood 11 abuts or rests upon the internal shoulder 32 thereby stopping the contact and preventing it from going all the way through the cavity 22.

To remove the contact from the housing 20, a tool 34 is used. The tool 34 has a handle 36 which includes an indexing means such as the flat 38. A diametrical blade or probe 40 extends from the handle 36 and has a chamfered end 42 facing the same direction as the fiat 38. The diametrical blade 40 must be slightly larger in diameter than the distance from the top of the arc of the hole 26 to the edge of the rectangular opening 24. The diametrical blade 40 is inserted into the arcuate hole 26 with the fiat 38 facing directly toward to rectangular opening 24. The blade 40 is pushed down its full length and the chamfered end 42 engages the locking spur 18 flexing it inwardly toward the base portion 10 of the contact; thus disengaging the locking spur from the locking shoulder 30. The contact is now in a free position and can be removed from the housing.

A variation of the contact is shown in FIGURES 5 through 8 and comprises a base portion 10a having arms 14a extending therefrom and having a major part spaced from the base portion 10a. Each of the arms 14a has a stop portion 44 extending therefrom parallel to each other. A stabilizing portion 46 extends at right angles from a side edge of the base portion 10a spaced from the arms 14a. A locking tab 48 extends from the other side of the base portion 10a in spaced, opposed relationship to the stabilizing portion 46 and has a part of its length bent away from the base portion 10a to act as a flexing member. A major portion of the locking tab 48 is spaced from the base portion 100. The tail of the contact is offset.

Housing a contains a series of cavities 22a, a rectangular opening 24a and an arcuate hole 26a opening into the rectangular opening 24a. The arcuate hole 26a at a predetermined plane opens into a secondary slot 28a which has a shelf running along each side thereof. The secondary slot 28a has a width greater than the width of the arcuate hole 26a and at the junction of the secondary slot 28a and the arcuate hole 26a 21 pair of locking shoulders 30a are formed. A stop depression is formed on the upper surface of the housing 20a which runs around sides adjacent the rectangular opening 24a opening into the cavity 22a as shown in FIG. 6.

The contact variation engages its housing 20a in a manner similar to that of the original contact and housing with the following difference: The two stop portions 44 in the variation, fit into the depression 50, acting in this regard, as a substitute for the closed entry hood and the internal shoulder combination of the original.

A combination tool 52. is used to release and extract the variation of the contact from the housing 20a and it comprises handle 36a which includes an indexing means such as a fiat 38a. Protruding from the handle 36a is a diametrical blade or probe 40a which has a chamfered end 42a facing the same direction as the flat 38a. Also extending from the handle 36a is a contact extrac'tor 54 which has a rectangular shank 56, although the geometric configuration of the shank is optional, and has at its terminal end an enlarged head 58. The head 58 has a tapered lead and forms a shoulder portion with the shank 56. The contact extractor 54 is spaced from the diametrical probe 42a in a predetermined manner to suit the configuration of the contact. The operation of the diametrical blade 40a is exactly similar to that of the diametrical blade 40. However, at the same time that the diametrical blade 40a is performing its function of flexing the locking tab 48 inwardly, the head 58 of the contact extractor 54 passes between the arms 14a of the contact flexing them away from each other until the head 58 passes the terminal ends of the arms 14a at which time the arms 14a will fiex back toward each other and engage behind the shoulder portion 60. When the tool 52 is pulled upwardly the shoulder portion 60 engages against the terminal ends of the arms 14a while simultaneously the probe 40a continues to depress the locking tab 48 thereby allowing the contact to be extracted.

With reference to the foregoing description itis to be understood that what has been disclosed herein represents only a single embodiment of the invention and is to be construed as illustrative rather than restrictive in nature and that the invention is best described by the following claim.

What is claimed:

An electrical connector comprising an insulating housing and a metal contact, said housing having a front face and a rear face, a contact receiving cavity extending from said front face through said rear face, one wall of said housing adjacent said cavity having a first slot intersecting said front face and extending toward said rear face, said wall having a second slot intersecting said rear face and extending toward said front face to intersect said first slot, said second slot being wider than said first slot whereby a shoulder is formed at the intersection of said slots facing said rear face, said contact being disposed in said cavity, said contact having a base portion adjacent said slotted wall, a resilient spur extending from said base portion into said second slot and engaging behind said shoulder so as to limit movement of said contact in the direction of said front face, said spur having its free end of greater width than said first slot and intersecting said first slot so as to be engaged by a tool inserted into said first slot at said front face and movable toward said rear face, and said contact having an element engaging said housing adjacent said cavity to limit movement of said contact in the direction of said rear face.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,682,038 6/1954 Johnson 200166 2,713,668 7/1955 'Gibilisoo 200-166 3,146,051 8/1964 Woofter et al. 339217 3,218,605 11/1965 Wanlass 200-166 ROBERT K. SCHAEFER, Primary Examiner.

H. O. JONES, Assistant Examiner. 

